Pyramids

Hot Air Balloon Ride

A view of The Valley of the Kings with one of the temples in the middle

Sunrise over the Nile and Sugarcane Fields



Nile River

Luxor

View of the Nile and Luxor's east bank from Banana Island, which actually isn't an island but their bananas were tasty.
Cam relaxing while we get ourselves un-stuck from the river bank.
View of the sailing feluccas... Veryinteresting, they had no motors and their oar was a 12ft long 2x8 that they threw over the side to paddle us back when the wind died out.
These little kids were running along side the river and loved getting their picture taken
We stopped at a place called banana island and this dog was just laying in the field with the banana trees in the background.

Cairo & Luxor

Our luxury taxi from Dahab to Cairo
View of the Nile in Cairo

After leaving Dahab for the last time we headed to Cairo and stayed for a few days before heading to Luxor. We stayed at a hostel in the middle of downtown and spent a day at the Egyptian Museum. It was huge and we had a guide for 2 hours and don't think we would of known what to do without him. They say that if you spent one minute at each piece it would take you 3 years to see everything in the museum! We saw all the contents of King Tut's tomb including the big gold mask and so much other stuff it was incredible. After 2 days in Cairo we took the sleeping train to Luxor, and it was so much fun. You get this tiny little room with chairs that fold down into a bed and another bed is on the wall that folds down over the other one. I could have slept on that train for weeks. It was great.

We arrived in Luxor at 6am and checked into our hostel and made some plans for the next few days. One thing we knew we wanted to do was a hot-air balloon ride. We also went for a ride down the Nile drinking hibiscus tea and relaxing. The next morning we woke up at 4:30am and were on our way to the hot air balloons!!! We had to take a fellucca across the Nile to the West bank and then a taxi to the field where the balloons are waiting for you. It was still dark and cold and they file you out of the taxi and into the baskets and you don't have too much time to think because they have been waiting for you and the balloon is ready and in a few minutes you are up in the air! I was quite nervous and had a few seconds where I thought I couldn't do it but it was awesome. Thankfully we didn't have many people in our balloon, we had 12 but some of the other balloons had 30 people! It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. It is so quiet up there and the only noise is from the pilot putting the flame into the balloon which by the way feels so hot you could almost smell the singe of your hair. We watched the sunrise and went up to 3000 ft! In a wicker basket! It was so crazy and such an amazing feeling. After a few days in Luxor we took the sleeping train back to Cairo for our last few days in Egypt.

Petra, Jordan

A view of the Treasury through the narrow valley


Halfway through the climb to the Monestary

Cameron with the monestary in the background.

This is a 7,000 seat theater with a goat in the stands.
The Treasury with a school trip getting photos taken

Cameron and I left Dahab and headed to Jordan to explore Petra (an ancient city carved from the sides of mountians). We decided to go through Israel and basically took buses or taxi's to each border and walked through. After a 2 hour drive from Jordan's border we made it to Wadi Musa, had a kebab and went to bed ready for an early morning. Spent the next day in Petra and it was incredible. These buildings and tombs carved right out of the mountian was amazing and almost surreal. We took a 45 min. climb up to the Monestary which was at about 3300 ft. and had a view over the mountians that was amazing.

After attempts to get to the Dead Sea failed we returned to Dahab to retrieve the rest of our belongings, staying one night in our old house and then off to Cairo.

Egypt

Only 2 more days in Egypt left... been to Jordan, back to Dahab, to Cairo and now we are in Luxor but are leaving tonight for Cairo again. Done so much with little time to tell now but will write properly once I arrive in Scotland with loads of Pictures as well. Petra in Jordan was amazing, been to the museum in Cairo, spent yesterday on a felucca (old school sailboat) on the Nile River and went on a hot air balloon ride at sunrise this morning over the Valley of the Kings and the Nile... It was awesome. Taking the night train back to Cairo tonight and will be heading to the pyramids tomorrow. It has been great but a whirlwind and will be good to un-wind back in the real world. xoxo

Just a quick note... I have been terrible at keeping in touch lately but haven't had a day off since Kat and Anna left at the beginning of Nov. and we have been super busy at the dive shop. My last day of work is the 26th and we are planning on leaving for Petra on the 27th!!! Then to Luxor and Cairo... Can't wait for a vacation. Jess took a hot air balloon ride over the Nile at sunrise and Cam and I are keen to try... As of now I will be in Scotland until just after New Year and hopefully by then will have more concrete future plans. If we head to Mexico we may pop by home for a few days but you never know. Miss everyone and Happy Thanksgiving... I ate Chinese food. xoxo

More Desert Trip Pics

Random Pics

My friend Anne that I work with

We had a nig party for Hany one of the guys at work's b-day.

That's the owner of the dive shop in the background pointing:)

We opened a dive center at Le Meridien Hotel in Dahab and this is the view from the shop

My street
Poseidon Crew

No where else could you get a temporary tatoo in a shop on the street in the middle of the night
View from dive boat
At a Desert BBQ with the girls (& Cam) playing silly games
Relaxing on Kat and Anna's last day